Syria Agrees to Annan's Peace Plan

Bashar al-Assad's regime has agreed to begin implementing Kofi Annan's UN- and Arab League-backed peace plan by April 10, and to cease hostilities entirely 48 hours later, diplomats told reporters today. Syrian officials confirmed as much for al-Jazeera, but said the deal would fall through if Annan couldn't get the opposition to sign on. "A plan wouldn't be successful unless everybody is committed to it," one official said.

In a briefing today, Annan urged the Security Council to support the April 10 deadline. But he added that there had been "no progress" in implementing the plan, which calls for the UN to monitor a ceasefire, as soldiers and heavy weaponry are pulled out of cities. US ambassador Susan Rice emerged from the meeting sounding less than reassured. "We have seen promises made and promises broken," she told the BBC. Past experience "would lead us to be skeptical." (More Kofi Annan stories.)